THE 


SEVENTY-SECOND  REGIMENT  OF  NORTH 


CAROLINA  TROOPS 


(THIRD  REGIMENT  OF  IUN10R  RESERVES.) 


1861— '65. 


COL.  JOHX  W.  tilNSDALE. 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


THE  COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINIANA 

PRESENTED  BY 

Dr.  Mary  Coker  Joslin 

Cp970.74i 
H66s 
3 


H  ISTORY 


SEVENTY-SECOND  REG1HENT 


NORTH  CAROLINA  TROOPS, 


WAR    BETWEEN   THE  STATES,   1861-'65, 


Col.  John  V.  Hinsdale 


OF  Ealeigh,  N.  C. 

NASH    BROTHERS, 

BOOK   AND  JOB   PRINTERS, 

GOLDSBORO,   N.   C. 

NCC 

NcU 

Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/historyofseventyOOhins 


I 

s 


c-2 


SEVE/1TY-SEC0ND  REGIMENT. 

(third  junior  reserves.) 


It  affords  the  writer  pleasure  to  respond  to  the  invitation 
of  Judge  Walter  Clark,  himself  a  distinguished  officer  of  the 
boy-soldiers,  to  make  a  lasting  memorial  of  the  courage  and 
heroism  of  the  brave  and  patriotic  lads  who  composed  the 
Third  Regiment  of  Junior  Reserves,  known  since  the  war  as 
the  Seventy-second  Regiment  of  Xorth  Carolina  Troops.  It 
is  to  be  regretted  that  the  task  has  not  been  performed  at  an 
earlier  day,  before  the  stirring  scenes  in  which  these  youths 
took  so  conspicuous  a  part  have  faded  into  the  dim  outline  of 
a  shadowy  dream.  Some  inaccuracies  must  now  neces- 
sarily creep  into  this  sketch.  The  writer  was  Assistant 
Adjutant-General  of  Lieutenant-General  Theophilus  H. 
Holmes,  who  commanded  the  Reserves  of  Xorth  Carolina, 
and  he  has  in  his  possession  many  valuable  records  pertaining 
to  that  office,  access  to  which  has  been  of  great  assistance  in 
the  preparation  of  this  regimental  history. 

It  is  deemed  not  inappropriate  here  to  narrate  some  things 
of  a  general  nature  concerning  the  Reserves. 

The  year  1863  closed  with  depression  and  gloom  through- 
out our  young  Confederacy.  Missouri,  Kentucky,  Louisiana, 
&.  Tennessee  and  the  Arkansas  and  Mississippi  Valleys  had 
been  lost.  Vicksburg,  with  its  ill-fated  commander,  had  sur- 
rendered. Gettysburg,  in  spite  of  the  heroic  efforts  of  Caro- 
__  Una's  best  and  bravest,  had  been  turned  by  Longstreet's  de- 
fault into  a  Union  victory.  All  of  our  ports  had  been  block- 
aded. Sherman  with  his  army  of  bummers,  was  preparing 
for  his  infamous  march  through  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas,  in 
Avhich  he  emulated  the  atrocities  of  the  Duke  of  Alva,  pro- 
claiming as  his  excuse  that  "War  is  hell,"  and  violating,  with 
tire  and  sword,  every  principle  of  civilized  warfare.  Grant 
had  been  placed  in  command  of  all  the  Union  armies  and  was 
preparing  to  take  personal  charge  of  a  campaign  of  attrition 
against  the  Army  of  Xorthern  Virginia,  willing  to  swap  five 


4  North  Carolina  Troops,  1861-'65. 

for  one  in  battle,  if  need  be,  in  order  to  exhaust  his  straitened 
adversary — a  process  by  which  with  his  unlimited  resources 
of  men,  he  knew  he  was  bound  to  win  in  the  end. 

It  was  in  such  dire  distress  that  the  Confederate  Con- 
gress 17  February,  1864,  aroused  to  a  full  sense  of  the  magni- 
tude of  the  struggle,  and  recognizing  the  necessity  for  putting 
forth  our  whole  strength  in  the  contest  for  Southern  inde- 
pendence, passed  an  act  for  the  enrollment  of  the  Junior  and 
Senior  Reserves — the  former,  lads  between  17  and  18  years — 
the  latter,  old  men,  between  45  and  50  years — thus,  in  the 
language  of  President  Davis,  "robbing  the  cradle  and  the 
grave." 

Lieutenant-General  T.  H.  Holmes  was  entrusted  by  Pres- 
ident Davis  with  the  organization  of  the  reserve  forces  in 
North  Carolina.  General  Holmes  was  the  son  of  Governor 
Gabriel  Holmes.  He  graduated  at  West  Point  in  1829,  and 
was  assigned  to  duty  with  the  Seventh  Regiment  of  Infantry. 
With  this  regiment  he  served  with  distinction  in  the  Seminole 
War  and  also  in  the  Mexican  War,  in  which  he  was  brevetted 
Major  for  conspicuous  gallantry  at  Monterey.  With  his 
keen  sense  of  honor,  pure  Christian  character,  devotion  to 
duty  and  utter  forgetfulness  of  self,  he  was  fit  to  be  a  com- 
panion of  the  knights  who  sat  at  King  Arthur's  round  table. 
A  true  son  of  the  Old  North  State,  he  had  promptly  respond- 
ed to  her  call,  and  resigning  a  Major's  commission  in  the 
United  States  Army,  had  been  appointed  by  the  President 
first  Colonel,  then  Brigadier,  then  Major-General  and  finallv 
Lieutenant-General.  As  courageous  as  a  lion,  he  was  as  gen- 
tle as  a  woman.  At  the  battle  of  Helena,  Arkansas,  amid  a 
storm  of  shot  and  shell,  with  a  coolness  which  the  writer  has 
never  seen  surpassed,  he  rode  into  Graveyard  Hill,  upon 
which  was  concentrated  the  fire  at  short  range  of  fifty  can- 
non and  five  thousand  muskets.  It  was  a  daring  and  fearless 
ride.  Like  General  Pettigrew,  he  was  one  of  the  few  men 
who  declined  promotion.  Well  does  the  writer  remember  the 
receipt  by  General  Holmes,  when  commanding  the  Trans- 
Mississippi  Department  in  Little  Rock,  of  a  Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral's commission,  all  unsought  and  unexpected.  He  at  once 
dictated  a  letter  to  the  President,  declining  with  grateful 
thanks  the  high  honor  and  requesting  him  to  bestow  it  upon  a 


Seventy-Second  Regiment.  5 

worthier  man.      It  was  only  upon  Mr.  Davis'  insistance  that 
the  promotion  was  afterwards  accepted. 

Mr.  Davis  in  his  '"'Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  Gov- 
ernment," says  of  him: 

"He  has  passed  beyond  the  reach  of  censure  or  of  praise, 
after  serving  his  country  on  many  fields  wisely  and  well.  I, 
who  knew  him  from  our  school  boy  days,  who  served  with 
him  in  garrison  and  in  the  field,  and  with  pride  watched  him 
as  he  gallantly  led  a  storming  party  up  the  rocky  height  at 
Monterey,  and  was  intimately  acquainted  with  his  whole 
career  during  our  sectional  war,  bear  willing  testimony  to  the 
purity,  self  abnegation,  generosity,  fidelity  and  gallantry 
which  characterized  him  as  a  man  and  as  a  soldier." 

A  truer,  braver,  purer  heart  never  beat  under  the  Confed- 
erate gray. 

General  Holmes  on  28  April,  1864,  established  his  head- 
quarters at  Raleigh,  E".  C,  and  undertook  the  task  of  or- 
ganizing the  Reserves  of  the  State.  His  staff  consisted 
of:— 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Frank  S.  Armistead,  a  graduate  of 
West-Point,  as  Inspector-General.  He  was  later  elected  Col- 
onel of  the  First  Regiment  of  Junior  Reserves  and  was  after- 
wards assigned  to  the  command  of  the  Junior  Reserves  bri- 
gade consisting  of  the  first  three  regiments.  He  was  recom- 
mended by  General  Holmes  for  the  appointment  of  Brigadier- 
General  in  terms  of  high  praise. 

Captain  John  W.  Hinsdale,  as  Assistant  Adjutant-Gen- 
eral, who  had  served  in  this  capacity  on  the  staffs  of  Gen- 
erals J.  Johnston  Pettigrew  at  Seven  Pines,  and  William  D. 
Pender,  through  the  Seven  Days'  Fight  around  Richmond, 
and  also  with  General  Holmes  in  the  Trans-Mississippi. 

First  Lieutenants  Charles  W.  Broadfoot  and  Theophilus 
H.  Holmes,  Jr.,  Aides-de-Camp.  The  latter,  a  mere  boy,  soon 
afterwards  gave  his  young  life  to  his  country  while  gallantly 
leading  a  cavalry  charge  near  Ashland,  Virginia.  The  form- 
er, a  member  of  the  Bethel  Regiment,  rose  from  private  to 


6  North  Carolina  Troops,  1861-'65. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  First  Junior  Reserves,  and  is  now 
the  first  lawyer  of  the  upper  Cape  Fear. 

First  Lieutenant  Graham  Daves,  appointed  Aide-de-Camp 
after  the  death  of  young  Holmes  and  the  promotion  of  Lieu- 
tenant Broadfoot.  He  was  a  brave  and  efficient  officer  of 
scholarly  attainments  and  high  integrity. 

A.  W.  Lawrence,  of  Raleigh,  Ordnance  Officer. 

Major  Charles  S.  Stringfeliow,  now  one  of  Richmond's 
most  distinguished  lawyers,  succeeded  Captain  Hinsdale  as 
Assistant  Adjutant-General  upon  the  latter's  promotion  to 
the  Colonelcy  of  the  Third  regiment  of  Junior  Reserves. 

A  roster  in  the  writer's  possession  shows  that  the  Medical 
Department  of  the  Reserves  was  organized  as  follows : 

Dr.  Thomas  Hill,  now  an  eminent  physician  of  Goldsboro, 
North  Carolina,  Medical  Director. 

Dr.  G.  G.  Smith,  Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  First  Regiment 
of  Junior  Reserves. 

Dr.  A.  W.  Eskridge,  Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  Second  Reg- 
iment of  Junior  Reserves. 

Dr.  E.  B.  Simpson,  Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  Third  Regi- 
ment of  Junior  Reserves. 

First  Lieutenant  J.  M.  Strong,  Assistant  Strgeon  of  the 
Fourth  Regiment  of  Senior  Reserves. 

Dr.  W.  L.  Glass,  Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  Fifth  Regiment 
of  Senior  Reserves. 

Dr.  A.  W.  Nesbitt,  Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  Sixth  Regi- 
ment of  Senior  Reserves. 

Dr.  David  Berry,  Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  Eighth  Regi- 
ment of  Senior  Reserves. 

Dr.  G.  H.  Cox,  Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  Eighth  Regi- 
ment of  Senior  Reserves. 

•  Dr.  James  S.  Robinson,  Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  Second 
Battalion  of  Senior  Reserves. 

ORGANIZATION    OF    REGIMENT. 

The  Third  Regiment  of  Junior  Reserves  was  formed  3 
January,  1865,  by  the  consolidation  of  the  Fourth  Battalion, 
commanded  by  Major  J.  M.  Reece;  the  Seventh  Battalion, 


Seventy-Second  Regiment.  7 

commanded  by  Major  W.  F.  French ;  and  the  Eighth  Battal- 
ion, commanded  by  Major  J.  B.  Ellington.  It  is  proper, 
therefore,  to  give  an  account  of  their  services  as  separate  or- 
ganizations. 

THE  FOURTH   BATTALION. 

The  Fourth  Battalion,  four  hundred  strong,  was  organ- 
ized at  Camp  Holmes,  near  Raleigh,  1ST.  C,  on  30  May,  1864, 
by  the  election  of  J.  M.  Reece,  of  Greensboro,  Major;  John 
S.  Pescud,  of  Raleigh,  was  appointed  Adjutant.  Pescud 
was  a  brave,  true-hearted  lad,  and  is  now  an  honored  citizen 
of  Raleigh.  The  battalion  was  sent  to  Goldsboro  2  June. 
It  was  composed  of  the  following  companies: 

Company  A — From  Guilford  County — John  W.  Pitts, 
Captain ;  J.  N".  Crouch,  First  Lieutenant ;  T.  A.  Parsons  and 
George  M.  Glass,  Second  Lieutenants. 

Upon  the  resignation  of  all  the  company  officers,  W.  W. 
King  was  elected  First  Lieutenant  and  Davis  S.  Reid  Second 
Lieutenant.  The  former  was  in  command  of  the  company 
at  Fort  Fisher,  Kinston  and  Bentonville.  He  also  acted  as 
Regimental  Adjutant  for  a  time,  when  D.  S.  Reid  com- 
manded the  company.  Both  of  these  officers  were  intelligent, 
brave  and  efficient. 

Company  B — From,  Alamance  and  Forsyth  Counties — A. 
L.  Lancaster,  Captain ;  A.  M.  Craig,  First  Lieutenant ;  Wil- 
liam May  and  C.  B.  Pfohl,  Second  Lieutenants. 

Company  C — From  Stokes  and  Person  Counties — R.  F„ 
Dalton,  Captain ;  G.  Mason,  First  Lieutenant ;  G.  W.  Yancey 
and  J.  H.  Schackelford,  Second  Lieutenants. 

Company  D — From  Rockingham — A.  B.  Ellington,  Cap 
tain;  J.  P.  Ellington,  First  Lieutenant;  F.  M.  Hamlin  and 
William  Fewell,   Second  Lieutenants.     This  company  was 
added  to  the  Battalion  15  June.      Captain  Ellington  was  pro- 
moted to  the  Majority  when  the  regiment  was  formed. 

Lieutenant  J.  P.  Ellington  in  July,  1864,  was  drowned 
in  Masonboro  Sound,  while  in  the  discharge  of  his  d  ty  as  of- 
ficer of  the  day,  visiting  the  pickets  on  the  beach.  Hi"  body 
was  recovered  by  exploding  torpedoes  in  the  sound. 


8  North  Carolina  Troops,  1861-65. 

Lieutenant  F.  M.  Hamlin  was  promoted  to  the  First  Lieu- 
tenancy and  commanded  the  company  until  he  was  made  Ad- 
jutant of  the  regiment. 

The  battalion  soon  after  its  organization  was  ordered  to 
Goldsboro  to  report  to  Brigadier-General  L.  S.  Baker,  com- 
manding the  district  of  Southern  Virginia  and  Eastern 
North  Carolina.  It  was  sent  thence  to  Kinston  and  there 
did  guard  and  picket  duty.  On  15  June  it  was  ordered  to 
report  to  Lieutenant-Colonel  Frank  S.  Armistead  at 
Weldon.  He  had  been  placed  in  command  of  the 
defences  at  that  point.  On  26  June  the  battalion 
was  ordered  to  report  to  General  W.  H.  C.  Whiting,  at  Wil- 
mington, the  only  remaining  blockade-riinning  port  of  the 
Confederacy.  The  battalion  thereupon  was  stationed  at  Camp 
Davis  near  Wilmington,  on  Masonboro  Sound,  under  com- 
mand of  Colonel  George  Jackson,  an  efficient  officer,  and 
did  picket  and  guard  duty  on  the  sound  and  the  beach  to  pre- 
vent the  landing  of  the  enemy,  the  escape  of  slaves  to  the 
blockaders  and  all  communication  with  the  passing  vessels. 
It  was  here  that  young  Ellington,  of  Company  D,  lost  his  life, 
crossing  the  Sound  in  a  storm  while  on  his  rounds  as  officer  of 
the  day.  He  was  a  zealous  and  capable  officer.  The  salt 
works,  from  which  large  supplies  of  salt  were  obtained  for  the 
army,  were  in  the  vicinity  of  this  camp,  and  were  guarded 
by  the  battalion. 

From  Camp  Davis  the  battalion  moved  to  Sugar  Loaf,  on 
the  Cape  Fear  River,  about  fifteen  miles  below  Wilmington, 
six  miles  above  Fort  Fisher  and  one  mile  from  the  ocean, 
where  it  drilled  and  did  guard  and  picket  duty.  "Sugar 
Loaf"  is  a  singular  formation.  It  is  a  high  sand  hill  run- 
ning from  the  river  bank  half  way  across  the  peninsula,  steep 
on  the  exterior,  but  sloping  on  all  sides  to  a  basin  in  the  cen- 
tre. It  is  a  natural  fortification,  which  the  engineering  skill 
of  General  Whiting,  by  fosse  and  rampart,  had  converted 
into  an  almost  impregnable  intrenched  cam]),  containing  per- 
haps one  hundred  acres. 

On  9  December,  1864,  the  battalion  went  from  Sugar  Loaf 
to  Belfield,  Virginia,  in  company  with  the  Seventh  and 
Eighth  Battalions.  Its  future  movements  will  be  described 
in  connection  with  the  other  two  battalions. 


Seventy-Second  Regiment. 


THE    SEVENTH    BATTALION. 


The  Seventh  Battalion,  300  strong,  was  organized  at  Camp 
Lamb,  near  Wilmington,  in  June,  1864,  by  the  election  of  W. 
F.  French,  of  Lumberton,  Major,  and  E.  F.  McDaniel,  of 
Favetteville,  was  appointed  Adjutant.  This  battalion  was 
composed  of  the  following  companies : 

Company  A — From  Cumberland,  Robeson  and  Harnett 
Counties — T.  G.  Hybart,  Captain;  D.  S.  Byrd,  First  Lieuten- 
ant; C.  C.  McLellan  and  C.  S.  Love,  Jr.,  Second  Lieuten- 
ants. 

Upon  the  death  of  Captain  Hybert,  on  9  September,  D.  S. 
Byrd  was  promoted  to  the  Captaincy. 

Company  B — From  New  Hanover,  Brunswick  and  Colum- 
bus Counties — John  D.  Kerr,  Captain;  J.  B.  Williams,  First 
Lieutenant;  E.  H.  Moore  and  B.  F.  Gore,  Second  Lieu- 
tenants. 

Company  C — From  Richmond  County — Donald  McQueen, 
Captain;  A.  B.  McCollum,  First  Lieutenant;  A.  C.  McFad- 
yen  and  S.  A.  Barfield,  Second  Lieutenants. 

The  battalion  did  guard  duty  at  Wilmington  until  the  mid- 
dle of  July.  Here  Captain  Donald  McQueen  died  of  typhoid 
fever  on  25  June.  He  was  a  fine  soldier,  an  honor  to  his 
name  and  his  cause.  Lieutenant  McCollum  succeeded  him 
in  command  of  the  company. 

On  the  night  of  3  July,  1864,  Lieutenant  Gushing,  of  the 
Federal  Xavy  (the  same  who  blew  up  the  Confederate  ram 
"Albemarle"  at  Plymouth),  with  a  few  detailed  men,  entered 
the  Confederate  headquarters  at  Smith ville  (now  Southport) 
and  carried  off  General  Paul  O.  Hebert's  Adjutant-General 
to  the  Federal  fleet.  Thereafter  the  Seventh  Battalion  was 
ordered  from  Wilmington  to  Smithville  for  its  protection. 
It  camped  in  a  beautiful  grove  of  live  oaks  back  of  the  town. 
Here  it  did  its  full  share  of  guard  and  picket  duty  under  the 
command  of  General  Llebert,  an  old  officer  who  had  served 
with  distinction  in  Mexico  and  had  been  Governor  of  Louis- 
iana. It  was  here  that  Captain  T.  G.  Hvbart,  of  Favetteville, 
was  stricken  with  typhoid  fever  and  died  9  September,  1864. 


10  North  Carolina  Troops,  1861-'65. 

He  was  one  of  the  best  officers  in  the  command,  and  had  he 
lived  and  the  war  continued,  would  have  made  his  mark. 
The  battalion  remained  at  Smithville  until  9  December  when, 
with  the  Fourth  and  Eighth  Battalions,  all  under  Colonel 
Jackson,  it  moved  to  Belfield,  Virginia,  to  repel  a  Federal 
raid. 

THE  EIGHTH   BATTALION. 

The  Eighth  Battalion,  three  hundred  strong,  was  organized 
at  Camp  Vance,  near  Morganton,  X.  C,  on  7  June,  by  the 
election  of  James  B.  Ellington  (First  Lieutenant  of  Com- 
pany D,  Sixty-first  North  Carolina  Regiment),  as  Major. 
It  was  composed  of  the  following  companies : 

Company  A — From  Iredell  County- — AY.  G.  Watson,  Cap- 
tain ;  George  Ruf  us  White,  First  Lieutenant ;  Amos  M.  Guy 
and  Sinclair  Preston  Steele,  Second  Lieutenants. 

Captain  Watson  resigned  in  January,  1865,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  joining  a  cavalry  regiment  in  Lee's  army.  He  re- 
turned home  to  procure  his  outfit  for  the  service,  but  was 
captured  by  Stoneman  and  sent  to  prison  in  Louisville,  Ky. 
He  is  now  the  excellent  and  popular  clerk  of  the  Superior 
Court  of  Rowan  County.  L'pon  his  resignation,  Lieutenant 
White  was  promoted  to  the  Captaincy. 

Company  B — From  Catawba — J.  R.  Gaither,  Captain;  J. 
M.  Lawrence,  First  Lieutenant,  (both  captured  at  Fort 
Fisher)  ;  Charles  Wilfong  and  J.  M.  Bandy,  Second  Lieu- 
tenants. 

Lieutenant  Wilfong  resigned  after  the  battle  of  Kinston, 
and  Lieutenant  Bandy  thereafter  until  the  surrender,  com- 
manded the  company.  He  made  a  fine  officer.  After  the 
war  he  was  for  a  number  of  years  a  professor  in  Trinity  Col- 
lege. He  now  resides  in  Greensboro,  where  as  a  civil  engineer 
he  ranks  high  in  his  profession.  Sergeant  James  M.  Barkley 
was  elected  Second  Lieutenant  and  F.  H.  Busbee  Junior  Sec- 
ond Lieutenant.  Both  of  them  were  excellent  officers.  Lieu- 
tenant Barkley  is  now  an  able  and  eminent  minister  of  the 
gospel  in  Detroit,  Mich.  I  am  indebted  to  him  for  many 
data  which  I  have  incorporated  into  this  sketch.     Lieutenant 


Seventy-Second  Regiment.  11 

Busbee  is  now  one  of  the  first  lawyers  of  the  State — a  bril- 
liant advocate  and  a  wise  and  learned  counsellor. 

Company  C — From  Burke  and  Caldwell  Counties — Lam- 
bert A.  Bristol,  Captain;  Marcus  G.  Tuttle,  First  Lieuten- 
ant; George  T.  Dula  and  Horace  W.  Connelly,  Second  Lieu- 
tenants. Captain  Bristol  is  now  the  worthy  Clerk  of  the 
SujDerior  Court  of  Burke  County. 

George  T.  Dula  resigned  and  John  W.  Harper  was  elected 
Junior  Second  Lieutenant.  He  soon  thereafter  laid  down 
his  young  life  on  his  country's  altar.  He  was  killed  at  the 
battle  of  Kinston. 

The  battalion  remained  for  some  days  at  Camp  Vance  and 
was  drilled  by  Lieutenant  Bullock,  a  drill  master.  On  24 
June,  it  was  ordered  to  Raleigh  and  at  Camp  Holmes  was 
uniformed  and  equipped  with  small  rifles,  which  were  very 
inferior  and  quite  dangerous — to  the  "man  behind  the  gun." 

On  26  June  the  battalion  was  ordered  to  Wilmington.  It 
went  into  camp  at  Camp  Davis.  It  afterwards  did  picket 
and  patrol  duty  on  Masonboro  and  Wrightsville  Sounds  under 
Colonel  George  Jackson.  On  4  August  it  was  ordered  to  re- 
port to  General  L.  S.  Baker,  at  Goldsboro,  but  returned  to 
Wilmington  16  August  and  was  again  placed  under  Colonel 
Jackson's  command  at  Masonboro  Sound. 

On  2  September,  under  orders  from  the  War  Department, 
Major  Ellington,  who  when  elected  Major  was  disabled  from 
active  service  by  wounds,  and  who  afterwards  recovered,  was 
relieved  of  his  command  and  sent  to  his  company  near 
Petersburg,  Virginia.  He  was  soon  afterwards  killed  at 
Fort  Harrison,  Virginia.  Major  Ellington  was  a  gallant 
officer  and  much  beloved  by  the  boys.  It  was  a  mistake  to 
have  relieved  him.  General  Holmes  afterwards  secured  a 
ruling  of  the  War  Department  by  which  the  officers  of  the 
Junior  Reserves  after  they  reached  the  age  of  18,  were  re- 
tained with  their  commands.  But  the  privates  and  non-com- 
missioned officers  were  still  required  to  be  sent  to  General 
Lee  as  fast  as  they  became  eighteen  years  old. 

Captain  William  G.  Watson  succeeded  Major  Ellington  in 
the  command  of  the  battalion.  In  the  fall,  the  battalion  was 
ordered  to  Sugar  Loaf,  on  the  Cape  Fear  river,  where  for 


12  North  Carolina  Troops,  1861-65. 

several  months  it  did  picket  duty,  drilled,  etc.  On  10  Decem- 
ber it  was  ordered  to  Belfield,  Va.,  under  Colonel  Jackson. 
Its  further  career  will  be  traced  in  connection  with  the 
Fourth  and  Seventh  Battalions  from  which  it  never  after 
separated  until  Johnston's  surrender. 

BELFIELD,  VA. 

On  8  December,  1864,  General  Whiting  was  notified  by 
General  Lee  that  the  Fifth  and  Second  Corps  of  Grant's 
army,  with  Bragg's  Division  of  Cavalry,  were  moving  under 
General  Warren  upon  Weldon,  and  that  they  were  near  Bel- 
field  and  that  Hill  and  Hampton  were  following  them.  One 
object  of  this  raid  was  to  destroy  the  railroad  bridge  at  Wel- 
don and  thus  cut  off  supplies  for  Lee's  army  from  that  direc- 
tion. General  Whiting  at  once  ordered  Colonel  George  Jack- 
son to  proceed  with  the  Fourth,  Seventh,  Eighth  and  Ninth 
Battalions  of  Junior  Reserves  and  four  pieces  of  Paris'  Artil- 
lery with  three  days'  cooked  rations,  to  Weldon,  and  there 
report  for  temporary  service  to  General  Leventhorpe,  com- 
manding. The  latter,  an  Englishman  by  birth,  was  the  first 
Colonel  of  the  Thirty-fourth  and  then  of  the  Eleventh 
North  Carolina  Regiments,  and  had  done  splendid  service  in 
clearing  the  enemy  from  the  Roanoke  river  and  in  defending 
the  Wilmington  &  Weldon  Railway. 

The  four  battalions  assembled  in  Wilmington  from  Sugar 
Loaf  and  Smithville.  Through  the  efforts  of  Major  French, 
the  troops  were  here  shod.  They  were  placed  on  flat  cars 
and  thus  exposed,  were  transported  to  Weldon.  The  weather 
was  intensely  cold.  More  than  once  the  train  had  to  be 
stopped,  fires  made  in  the  woods  and  some  of  the  boys  lifted 
from  the  train  and  carried  to  the  fires  and  thawed  out.  Many 
went  to  sleep  in  their  wet  clothes  to  find  them  frozen  stiff 
upon  awakening.  This  suffering  was  undergone  without  a 
murmur.  The  old  guard  of  Napoleon  on  the  retreat  from 
Moscow,  never  displayed  more  heroism  and  fortitude  than 
did  the  boy-soldiers — the  "Young  Guard  of  the  Confederacy." 

Under  the  law,  the  reserves  could  not  be  required  to  cross 
their  State  lines,  but  without  hesitation  and  without  an  ex- 
ception, the  brave  boys  at  Weldon  hurried  on  to  Belfield,  Vir- 
ginia,, there  to  meet  the  invading  foe.  The  Federals  with- 
drew, leaving  their  dead  unburied,  after  a  sharp  fire  and  re- 


Seventy-Second  Regiment.  13 

pulse  from  the  reserves  who  had  just  reached  the  battlefield, 
and  the  latter  joined  in  the  pursuit  across  the  Meherrin  river 
at  Hicks'  Ford.  On  17  December,  1864,  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  North  Carolina,  recognizing  their  heroism,  passed  the 
following  resolutions : 

"Whereas,  The  Legislature  has  heard  with  satisfaction 
of  the  good  conduct  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Junior 
Reserves  and  Home  Guards,  who  volunteered  to  cross  the 
State  line  into  Virginia,  in  order  to  repel  the  late  advance  of 
the  public  enemy  on  Weldon ;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Junior  Re- 
serves and  Home  Guards,  so  acting,  deserve  the  commenda- 
tion of  their  fellow  citizens,  and  are  entitled  to  the  thanks  of 
this  Legislature." 

"Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  proceedings  be  transmitted 
to  Lieutenant-General  Holmes  and  Major-General  R.  C.  Gat- 
lin,  that  it  may  be  communicated  to  the  commands  which 
they  are  intended  to  honor." 

From  Belfield  the  four  battalions,  together  -with  the  First 
and  Second  Regiments  of  Junior  Reserves,  were  ordered,  un- 
der Colonel  Leventhorpe,  to  Tarboro  to  repel  a  Federal  raid 
from  Washington,  JKT.  C.  The  command  moved  to  Hamilton, 
some  miles  below  Tarboro.  The  enemy  retired  upon  the  ad- 
vance of  the  Confederate  troops.  The  battalions  remained 
there  a  day  or  two  and  returned  to  Tarboro.  The  troops 
camped  about  a  mile  northeast  of  the  town  for  several  days. 
The  boys  were  without  overcoats,  tents  or  tent  flies,  and  lay 
upon  the  bare  ground  in  the  rain  and  sleet  and  snow.  Many 
of  them  were  frost  bitten.  A  good  old  farmer  along  side  of 
whose  fence  the  boys  camped  on  the  first  night  of  their  stay, 
kindly  gave  them  leave  to  start  their  fires  by  using  the  top  rail 
of  his  fence.  When  he  came  back  next  morning  there  was 
not  a  rail  to  be  seen.  When  he  protested  with  some  warmth, 
saying  that  they  had  taken  more  than  he  had  given  them  leave 
to  take,  one  wag  said :  ."ISTo,  sir ;  as  long  as  there  was  a  top 
rail,  we  had  your  permission  to  burn  it.  We  never  took  any 
but  the  top  rail."  The  old  man  laughed  good  naturedly  and 
left. 

The  severity  of  the  experience  of  the  Reserves  on  the  Bel- 
field  expedition  may  be  realized  when  it  is  stated  that  although 


14  North  Carolina  Troops,  1861-65. 

they  had  been  in  camp  over  six  months  and  had  been  some- 
what enured  to  a  soldier's  life,  over  one-half  of  them  were 
sent  to  the  hospital  when  the  battalions  returned  to  Wil- 
mington. 

The  command  was  marched  from  Tarboro  to  Goldsboro  and 
by  train  was  conveyed  to  Wilmington,  and  thence  back  to 
Sugar  Loaf.  There  they  remained  under  the  command  of 
General  W.  W.  Kirkland  until  the  battle  of  Fort  Fisher. 
This  officer  was  a  splendid  fighter  and  a  superb  soldier.  He 
was  Colonel  of  the  Twenty-first  North  Carolina  Regiment, 
and  afterwards  commanded  Early's  Brigade,  Pettigrew's  Di- 
vision. He  had  taken  part  in  many  of  the  desperate  battles 
of  Virginia  and  had  been  twice  severely  wounded.  He  was 
transferred  to  Wilmington  late  in  December  and  established 
his  headquarters  at  Sugar  Loaf. 

first  attack  oat  fort  fisher. 

The  three  battalions  composing  the  Third  Regiment  of 
Junior  Reserves  participated  brilliantly  in  the  defence  of 
Fort  Fisher,  when  attacked  by  General  B.  F.  Butler  and  Ad- 
miral Porter  on  23,  24  and  25  December,  1864. 

Fort  Fisher  was  located  on  the  point  of  a  narrow  penin- 
sula which  extends  southwardly  from  ?\Tew  Inlet  between  the 
ocean  and  Cape  Fear  river,  near  its  mouth.  It  defended 
Wilmington,  the  last  remaining  port  through  which  army 
supplies,  ammunition,  clothing  and  food  for  Lee's  Army 
were  brought  in  by  blockade  runners.  Under  its  guns,  the 
"Ad-Vance"  brought  in  supplies  of  inestimable  value  to  the 
Xorth  Carolina  troops.  Its  defence  was  of  supreme  impor- 
tance to  the  Confederacy.  It  was  an  earthen  fort  of  an  irreg- 
ular form,  with  bastions  at  the  angles.  The  land  face,  250 
yards  long,  was  continuous  from  ocean  to  river.  The  sea 
face  was  1,300  yards  long.  Both  faces  were  mounted  with 
heavy  guns,  mortars  and  light  artillery,  presenting  a  formid- 
able front  to  the  enemy.  It  was  the  strongest  earthwork 
built  by  the  Confederacy,  and  really,  as  Admiral  Porter  said, 
"stronger  than  the  Malakoff  tower  which  defied  so  long  the 
combined  power  of  France  and  England."  Two  miles  above 
the  fort  were  the  Half  Moon  and  the  Fla°;  Pond  Batteries, 


Seventy-Second  Regiment.  15 

and  a  mile  and  a  quarter  below,  and  at  the  extreme  end  of  the 
peninsula,  Battery  Buchanan  with  four  heavy  guns. 

When  Butler's  expedition  of  8,000  men  set  forth  against 
it,  the  fort  was  garrisoned  by  only  667  men — a  totally  inad- 
equate force  for  its  defence.  General  Butler,  with  General 
Weitzel  and  his  troops,  appeared  in  transports  off  New  Inlet, 
near  Fort  Fisher,  on  15  December.  The  navy  under  Ad- 
miral Porter,  did  not  appear  until  the  18th.  He  had  col- 
lected the  largest  and  most  formidable  naval  expedition  of 
modern  times.  The  weather  being  stormy,  prevented  any 
hostile  operations  until  the  23d.  On  the  night  of  the  23d, 
Admiral  Porter  anchored  a  powder  ship,  containing  215  tons 
of  powder,  about  800  yards  from  the  northeast  salient  of  the 
fort.  It  was  anticipated  that  the  explosion  of  this  mass  of 
powder  would  greatly  impair,  if  not  destroy,  the  works,  and 
the  least  effect  expected  was  that  the  garrison  would  be  so  par- 
alyzed and  stunned  as  to  offer  but  small  resistance  to  subse- 
quent attacks.  The  explosion  did  no  more  harm  than  a 
Chinese  fire-cracker.  Colonel  William  Lamb,  then  in  com- 
mand of  the  fort,  wired  General  Whiting  at  Wilmington  that 
one  of  the  enemy's  fleet  had  blown  up,  so  little  impression  did 
it  make  on  him. 

General  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of  Xew  Orleans  fame,  in  his 
autobiography,  gives  an  amusing  account  of  an  interview 
with  Major  Reece,  who  commanded  the  Fourth  Batalion  of 
Junior  Reserves  and  was  captured  at  Fort  Fisher.  Butler 
says :  "I  inquired  of  him  where  he  was  the  night  before  last 
(the  night  of  the  explosion  of  the  powder  boat).  He  said 
he  was  lying  two  miles  and  a  half  up  the  beach.  I  asked 
him  if  he  had  heard  the  powder  vessel  explode.  He  said  he 
did  not  know  what  it  was,  but  supposed  a  boat  had  blown  up, 
that  it  jumped  1dm  and  his  men  who  were  lying  upon  the 
ground,  like  pop-corn  in  a  popper,  to  use  his  expression."  It 
is  hard  to  tell  which  most  to  admire,  Butler's  gullibility  or 
Reece's  "jollying"  extravagance. 

The  next  day,  24  December,  was  employed  by  Porter  in 
bombarding  the  fort,  dropping  into  it  as  many  as  130  shells 
a  minute.  At  this  time  the  three  battalions  of  Junior  Re- 
serves, about  800  strong,  were  encamped  near  Sugar  Loaf,  six 
miles  up  the  Cape  Fear  river  from  the  fort.      On  the  night 


16  North  Carolina  Troops,   1861-65. 

of  the  24th,  the  Fourth,  Seventh  and  Eighth  battalions  were- 
assembled  at  Sugar  Loaf  under  Brigadier-General  William 
W.  Kirkland.  Major  French  had  been  temporarily  assigned 
to  the  command  of  a  regiment  of  Senior  Reserves,  but  at  his 
request  was  permitted  to  return  to  his  own  command  and  fol- 
low its  fortunes.  General  Whiting  directed  General  Kirk- 
land to  send  these  battalions  to  Battery  Buchanan,  there  to 
take  boat  for  Bald  Head  and  relieve  Colonel  J.  J.  Hedrick 
and  his  seasoned  veterans,  in  order  that  they  might  reinforce 
Fort  Fisher.  They  marched  soon  after  midnight  through 
Fort  Fisher  to  Battery  Buchanan,  on  the  extreme  end  of  the 
peninsula.  In  the  darkness,  many  of  the  boys  while  passing 
through  the  fort,  stumbled  into  the  holes  which  were  made  in 
every  direction  by  the  shells.  All  the  battalions  arrived  at 
Fort  Buchanan  before  day.  The  boat  which  was  to  carry 
them  to  Bald  Head  could  not  make  a  landing  on  account  of 
the  tide,  whereupon  Captain  Bristol  early  in  the  morning  re- 
ported in  person  the  situation  to  Colonel  Lamb,  who  or- 
dered the  Juniors  into  the  Fort.  This  was  early  Christmas 
morning. 

Between  Fort  Buchanan  and  Fort  Fisher  is  a  clear,  open 
beach,  upon  which  a  partridge  could  not  hide  himself,  over 
which  they  must  pass  in  full  view  of  the  fleet.  As  soon  as 
the  march  began  the  fleet  poured  upon  the  command  a  terrific 
discharge  of  shot  and  shell.  The  first  one  killed  at  Fort 
Fisher  was  private  Davis,  of  French's  Battalion  of  Juniors, 
who  on  this  march  was  cut  in  two  by  a  large  shell.  Another 
private  was  severely  wounded  by  the  same  shell.  Nothing 
but  the  poor  practice  of  the  fleet  saved  the  boys  from  utter 
destruction  on  this  perilous  inarch.  When  they  reached 
Fort  Fisher  a  scene  of  desolation  met  their  gaze.  The  bar- 
racks had  been  destroyed  and  the  interior  of  the  fort  was 
honeycombed  by  holes  in  the  ground  large  enough  to  bury 
an  ox  team,  made  by  the  huge  shells  from  the  fleet.  French's 
battalion  and  as  many  of  the  others  as  could  be  accommodated, 
were  placed  in  the  already  over-crowded  bomb-proofs.  Those 
who  could  not  obtain  protection  here  were  carried  by  Major 
Reece  to  the  breastworks  at  Camp  Wyatt,  three  miles  above 
the  fort.  The  gunboats  soon  discovered  their  presence  there 
and  enfiladed  the  trenches  with  a  terrific  fire.   The  boys  sought 


Seventy-Second  Regiment.  17 

shelter  under  the  banks  of  the  river,  where  they  spent  the  day 
listening  to  the  music  of  the  great  guns  of  the  fleet  and  watch-- 
ing  the  great  shells  as  they  passed  over  them  into  the  river — =- 
a  grand,  but  not  a  very  engaging  spectacle. 

It  was  dark  when  Major  Reece  determined  to  take  his 
command  back  to  the  fort.  Late  in  the  afternoon  he  heard 
the  report  of  small  arms  in  the  direction  of  the  fort.  He- 
knew  that  a  land  force  was  attacking  the  fort,  and  lie  felt- 
that  it  was  his  duty  to  take  his  boys  to  the  rescue.  He- 
marched  them  down  the  river  towards  the  fort  but  unforttffi= 
ately  he  failed  to  put  out  a  skirmish  line  and  fell  upon  a 
regiment  of  General  Weitzel's  troops  by  whom  he  and  a  ma- 
jority of  his  command  were  captured  and  carried  to  Point 
Lookout.  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  officers  who  were 
taken  prisoners : 

Major  J.  M.  Reece,  Captain  J.  R.  Gaither,  First  Lieu- 
tenant J.  M.  Lawrence,  of  Company  B,  Eighth  Battalion ; 
First  Lieutenant  M.  G.  Tuttle,  Company  C,  Eighth  Battal- 
ion; Second  Lieutenant  George  W.  Yancey,  Company  C, 
Fourth  Battalion ;  Second  Lieutenant  C.  P.  Pfohl,  Company 
C,  Fourth  Battalion.  Those  officers  who  escaped  were  Captain 
A.  L.  Lancaster,  Company  B,  Fourth  Battalion ;  First  Lieu- 
tenant G.  R.  White,  Company  A,  Eighth  Battalion ;  Second 
Lieutenant  Amos  Guy,  Company  A,  Eighth  Battalion ;  Third 
Lieutenant  S.  P.  Steele,  Company  A,  Eighth  Battalion. 

First  Lieutenant  F.  M.  Hamlin,  Company  D,  Fourth  Bat- 
talion, a  brave  young  subaltern,  led  part  of  his  company  up 
the  river  and  escaped  capture.  They  found  their  way  to 
Kirkland's  Brigade  at  Sugar  Loaf  and  rejoined  their  com- 
mand at  the  fort  next  day. 

The  fleet  bombarded  the  fort  until  12  o'clock  Christmas 
day,  when  Butler  landed  2,500  troops  near  the  Half  Moon 
Battery,  about  two  miles  north  of  Fisher.  He  immedi- 
ately pushed  up  Curtis'  Brigade  within  a  few  hundred  yards 
of  the  parapet  of  the  fort.  A  skirmish  line  was  then  ad- 
vanced to  within  seventy-five  yards  of  the  fort.  Upon  the 
approach  of  the  enemy,  the  Junior  Reserves  sprang  to  the 
parapet  of  the  land  face  which  was  swept  by  the  guns  of  the 
fleet,  and  by  a  well-directed  fire,  delivered  with  a  coolness 
which  could  not  be  excelled,  they  reuelled  the  attack.      One 


18  North  Carolina  Troops,  1861-65. 

little  fellow  from  Columbus  County,  whose  name  is  not  re- 
membered, being  too  small  to  shoot  over  the  parapet,  mounted 
a  cannon  and  fired  from  there  as  coolly  as  if  he  were  shoot- 
ing squirrels,  until  he  fell  wounded.  About  dusk  the  Re- 
serves were  ordered  to  the  palisades  in  front  of  the  parapet 
&nd  immediately  under  the  guns  of  the  fort,  where  they  re- 
mained till  morning.  The  guns  of  the  fort  were  discharged 
over  their  heads.  The  rain  was  descending  in  torrents.  That 
night  the  Federals  re-embarked  most  of  their  men. 

General  Whiting  in  his  report  says :  "Colonel  Tansill 
was  ordered  to  the  command  of  the  land  front.  The  gallant 
Major  Reilly,  with  his  battalion  and  Junior  Reserves,  poured 
cheering,  over  the  parapet  and  through  the  sallyport  to  the  pal- 
isades. The  enemy  had  occupied  the  redoubt  (an  unfinished 
fort)  and  advanced  into  the  port  garden.  A  fire  of  grape 
and  musketry  checked  any  further  advance.  The  garrison 
continued  to  man  the  out-works  and  channel  batteries  through- 
out the  night,  exposed  to  a  pelting  storm  and  occasionally  ex- 
changing musket  shots  with  the  enemy.  The  fire  had  been 
maintained  for  seven  hours  and  a  half  with  unremitting- 
rapidity.'" 

Colonel  William  Lamb,  the  hero  of  Fort  Fisher,  who,  under 
General  Whiting,  commanded  the  troops,  in  his  report  says: 
"At  4:30  p.  m.,  25  December,  a  most  terrific  fire  against  the 
land  face  and  palisades  in  front  commenced,  unparalleled 
in  severity.  Admiral  Porter  estimated  it  at  130  shot  and 
shell  per  minute.  The  parapet  and  the  guns  were  manned 
by  regulars  and  the  Junior  Reserves. 

"During  the  night  the  rain  fell  in  torrents,  wetting  the 
troops  and  their  arms,  but  it  did  not  dampen  their  spirits  nor 
interfere  with  their  efficiency.      *     *     * 

"On  Tuesday  morning  the  foiled  and  frightened  enemy 
left  our  shores.  1  cannot  speak  too  highly  of  the  coolness 
and  gallantry  of  my  command." 

Colonel  Lamb  at  another  time  said :  "Be  it  said  to  the 
eternal  credit  of  these  gallant  boys  that  they,  from  this  first 
baptism  of  fire,  emerged  with  a  reputation  for  bravery  estab- 
lished for  all  time,  and  that  to  no  troops  more  than  these  is 
due  the  honor  of  our  splendid  victory." 

The  troops  were  complimented  in  general  orders  by  Gen- 


SEVENTY-SECOND  REGIMENT. 


1.  John  W.  Hinsdale,  Colonel. 

2.  W.  Foster  French,  Lieut-Colonel. 

3.  W.  W.  King,  1st  Lieut.,  Co.  A. 

4.  Jno.  W.  Harper,  2d  Lieut..  Co.  C. 


5.  H.  W.  Connelly,  2d  Lieut.,  Co.  C. 

6.  J.  M.  Bandy,  2d  Lieut  ,  Co.  E. 

7.  D.  S.  Reid,  2d  Lieut..  Co.  K. 

8.  C.  W.  Taylor,  Orderly  Sergt.,  Co.  C. 


9.    J.  L.  McGimpsey,  Private,  Co.  B. 


Seventy-Second  Regiment.  19 

eral  Bragg  for  their  heroism  and  gallantry.  The  heaviest 
loss  suffered  by  any  one  command  in  the  fort  was  by  the 
Junior  Reserves.  Thus  ended  the  first  glorious  defence  of 
Fort  Fisher. 

When  the  news  was  flashed  to  Raleigh  that  Butler's  ships 
had  appeared  off  Fort  Fisher,  Lieutenant-General  Holmes 
promptly  tendered  his  services  to  assist  in  repelling  the  threat- 
ened attack  and  was  assigned  to  duty  by  General  Bragg  in  the 
city  of  Wilmington,  where  he  was  put  in  charge  of  the  move- 
ment of  troops  at  that  point.  The  writer  who  accompanied 
General  Holmes  as  his  Adjutant-General,  unfortunately  did 
not  participate  in  the  battle  of  Fort  Fisher.  He  is  indebted 
to  Lieutenant-Colonel  French  for  most  of  the  foregoing  de- 
tails. 

On  26  December,  the  reserves  were  moved  to  camp  on  Bald 
Head  Island,  where  they  remained  on  guard  and  picket  duty 
for  several  days  when  they  were  ordered  to  Camp  McLean,  at 
Goldsboro,  1ST.  C. 

On  6  December,  there  had  been  an  attempted  consolida- 
tion of  these  three  battalions  near  Sugar  Loaf,  when  Captain 
William  R.  Johns  was  elected  Colonel ;  Captain  C.  N.  Allen, 
Lieutenant-Colonel ;  and  A.  B.  Johns,  Major.  Captain  W.  R. 
Johns,  a  disabled  officer,  was  then  in  the  enrollment  service 
under  Colonel  Peter  Mallett,  the  Commandant  of  Conscripts 
of  Xorth  Carolina,  and  being  unable  to  undergo  the  hardships 
and  exposure  of  camp  life,  declined  the  election.  Captain  Al- 
len, the  Lieutenant-Colonel,  declined  for  the  same  reason. 
Major  Johns  was  never  assigned  and  never  entered  upon  the 
discharge  of  the  duties  of  Major  and  so  the  battalions  con- 
tinued to  serve  under  separate  organizations.  Major  Johns 
afterwards  formally  tendered  his  resignation,  which  was  ac- 
cepted. 

ORGANIZATION. 

On  3  January,  1865,  while  the  regiment  was  at  Camp  Mc- 
Lean, near  Goldsboro,  it  was  finally  organized  by  the  elec- 
tion of  Captain  John  W.  Hinsdale,  Colonel ;  W.  F.  French, 
Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  Captain  A.  B.  Ellington,  Major. 
On  7  January  the  last  two  were  assigned  to  duty.      Frank  M. 


20  North  Carolina  Troops,  1861-'65. 

Hamlin,  one  of  the  gallant  young  officers  who  refused  to  sur- 
render with  Major  Reece,  was  appointed  Adjutant.  But 
from  time  to  time  Lieutenants  W.  W.  King,  Andrew  J.  Bur- 
ton and  Frank  S.  Johnson,  son  of  Senator  R.  W.  Johnson,  of 
Arkansas,  who  had  shortly  theretofore  left  the  University  of 
North  Carolina  and  volunteered  in  the  Third  Regiment,  acted 
as  Adjutant.  J.  K.  Huston  was  appointed  Quartermaster 
Sergeant,  and  George  B.  Haigh,  of  Fayetteville,  grandson  of 
the  Hon.  George  E.  Badger,  Commissary  Sergeant.  Drs.  E. 
B.  Simpson  and  J.  S.  Robinson  were  assigned  to  the  regiment 
as  Surgeon  and  Assistant  Surgeon. 

The  companies  composing  the  regiment  were  then  lettered 
and  designated  as  follows : 

Company  A — From  Guilford  County — Captain,  John  W. 
Pitts. 

Company  B — From  Alamance  and  Forsyth  Counties — 
Captain,  A.  L.  Lancaster. 

Company  C — From  Stokes  and  Person  Counties — Cap- 
tain, R.  F.  Dalton. 

Company  D — From  New  Hanover,  Brunswick  and  Co- 
lumbus Counties — Captain,  John  D.  Kerr. 

Company  E — From  Catawba  County — Captain,  J.  R. 
Gaither. 

Company  F — From  Iredell  and  Rowan  Counties — Cap- 
tain, W.  G.  Watson. 

Company  G — From  Burke  and  Caldwell  Counties — Cap- 
tain,  L.   A.   Bristol. 

Company  H — From  Cumberland,  Robeson  and  Harnett 
Counties — Captain,  D.  S.  Byrd. 

Company  T — From  Richmond  County — Captain,  A.  B. 
McCollum. 

Company  K — From  Rockingham  County — Lieutenant,  F. 
M.  Hamlin. 

Colonel  Hinsdale,  upon  receiving  notice  in  the  city  of  Ral- 
eigh of  his  election,  at  once  signified  his  acceptance,  but  it 
was  questioned  by  General  Holmes  whether  he  was  eligible 
under  the  orders  of  the  War  Department,  by  reason  of  the 
fact  that  he  was  not  a  disabled  officer.      The  matter  was  re- 


Seventy-Second  Regiment.  21 

f erred  to  the  authorities  in  Richmond  and  after  considera- 
ble delay  the  department  decided  in  Colonel  Hinsdale's  favor 
and  he  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  regiment  on  14 
February,  1865,  by  the  following  all  too  partial  general 
order : 

"Headquarters  Reserves  North  Carolina, 

Raleigh,  N.  C,  14  February,  1865. 
General  Orders  No.  If. 

"Major  C.  S.  Stringfellow,  Assistant  Adjutant-General 
C.  S.  P.  A.,  will  relieve  Captain  John  W.  Hinsdale,  Assist- 
ant-Adjutant-General of  Reserves  of  North  Carolina,  and 
the  latter  officer  will  proceed  to  join  the  Third  Regiment  Re- 
serves of  North  Carolina  as  its  Colonel,  he  having  been  duly 
elected  to  that  office  on  3  January,  1865. 

"The  Lieutenant-General  commanding  in  taking  leave  of 
Colonel  Hinsdale,  tenders  his  warm  congratulations  on  his 
promotion  and  earnestly  hopes  that  the  intelligence,  zeal  and 
gallantry,  which  has  characterized  his  services  as  a  staff  officer 
may  be  matured  by  experience  into  greater  usefulness  in  his 
new  and  more  extended  sphere. 

"Theo.  H.  Holmes, 
"Lieutenant-General    Commanding. " 

While  at  Camp  McLean,  near  Goldsboro,  the  regiment  was 
ordered  to  Halifax  to  repel  another  Federal  raid.  It  re- 
mained there  only  a  day  or  two,  the  enemy  having  with- 
drawn. It  returned  to  Goldsboro  where  it  remained  drilling 
and  doing  guard  duty  until  the  last  of  January.  It  was  then 
ordered  to  Kinston  and  camped  near  the  beautiful  home  of 
Colonel  John  C.  Washington.  It  was  here  employed  in  con- 
structing the  breastworks  and  fortifications  for  the  defence 
of  the  town  and  especially  of  the  county  bridge  across  the 
Neuse  river.  Kinston  was  in  easy  reach  from  New  Bern 
and  had  been  visited  by  many  Federal  raiding  parties  from 
time  to  time.  Our  boys  were  heartily  welcomed  by  the  good 
people  of  that  town. 

The  rations  which  were  issued  to  officers  and  men  while 
here  and  at  Goldsboro  were  very  scant.  They  consisted 
of  half  a  pint  of  black  sorghum  syrup,  a  pint  of  husky  meal 


22  North  Carolina  Troops,  1861-'65. 

every  other  day,  a  third  of  a  pound  of  pork  or  Nassau  bacon 
and  a  few  potatoes  occasionally.  The  old  soldiers  will  all 
remember  Nassau  bacon,  a  very  gross,  fat,  porky  substance 
which  ran  the  blockade  at  Wilmington  and  was  distributed 
among  Lee's  veterans  as  bacon.  When  a  ration  of  cornfield 
peas  was  issued,  the  boys  were  in  "high  jinks"  indeed.  But 
never  was  there  collected  together  more  uncomplaining  men. 
They  recognized  the  fact  that  the  Confederacy  was  doing  for 
them  its  best. 

BATTLE  OF  SOUTH  WEST   CREEK. 

Upon  the  discovery  of  the  advance  of  the  enemy  from  New 
Bern,  whence  they  set  out  early  in  March,  General  Hoke's 
Division  was  ordered  to  Kinston.  On  6  March,  the  Junior 
Reserve  Brigade,  consisting  of  the  First  Regiment  under 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Charles  AY.  Broadfoot ;  the  Second  under 
Colonel  John  H.  Anderson,  and  the  Third  under  Colonel 
Hinsdale,  and  Millard's  Battalion  under  Captain  C.  M.  Hall, 
all  under  Colonel  F.  S.  Armistead,  marched  through  Kinston 
and  across,  to  the  south  side  of  Neuse  river,  which  here  runs 
in  an  easterly  direction,  past  the  breastworks  which  they  had 
so  laboriously  constructed.  They  marched  down  the  river 
road  which  leads  out  in  a  southeasterly  direction  to  Southwest 
creek.  This  creek  is  a  sluggish,  unfordable  stream,  which 
runs  in  a  northerly  direction  and  empties  into  the  river  about 
six  miles  below  Kinston.  The  regiment  was  placed  in  some 
old  breastworks  on  the  margin  of  a  swamp,  about  a  hundred 
yards  from  the  creek.  Our  pickets  were  stationed  on  the 
creek.  The  next  day  the  enemy  made  their  appearance  on 
the  other  side  of  the  stream  and  established  a  line  of  skir- 
mishers and  sharpshooters.  During  the  day  our  skirmishers 
were  engaged  and  occasionally  a  minie  ball  would  whistle 
over  the  breastworks  as  each  individual  boy  of  the  regiment 
believed,  "just  by  my  ear."  On  the  morning  of  8  March, 
General  Hoke,  whose  troops  were  also  stationed  along  the  line 
of  the  creek,  was  relieved  by  the  arrival  of  D.  H.  Hill's  troops. 
Hoke's  Division  crossed  the  creek  and  made  a  detour  down 
the  lower  Trent  road  which  crossed  the  British  road  at  Wise's 
Fork,  about  three  miles  in  our  front.  The  lower  Trent  road 
runs  in  a  southeasterlv  direction  to  Trenton.     The  British 


Seventy-Second  Regiment.  23 

road  runs  in  a  northeasterly  direction  towards  the  river.  Gen- 
eral Hoke  with  his  usual  dash  surprised  a  Federal  brigade, 
captured  it  and  sent  it  to  the  rear.  The  reserves  held  the 
breastworks  throughout  the  8th.  On  the  morning  of  the  9th, 
the  reserves  crossed  Southwest  creek  on  an  improvised  bridge 
constructed  by  them  about  200  yards  above  the  bridge  on 
the  Dover  road  which  had  been  destroyed.  This  bridge  was 
made  by  felling  trees  across  the  creek  and  covering  them 
with  lumber  taken  from  Jackson's  mill  in  the  vicinity.  Line 
of  battle  was  formed  on  the  east  side  of  the  creek  on  swampy 
ground  and  the  brigade  was  ordered  forward  under  fire 
through  fallen  trees,  brush,  brambles,  and  bullets — making 
it  difficult  to  preserve  the  alignment.  They  advanced  as 
steadily  as  veterans,  driving  the  enemy  who  were  fresh  troops 
from  New  Bern,  well  dressed,  well  fed,  well  armed  and  well 
liquored,  as  was  evidenced  by  the  condition  of  some  prisoners 
captured.  The  Third  Regiment  suffered  the  loss  of  a  num- 
ber of  brave  officers  and  men,  among  them  Lieutenant  -John 
W.  Harper,  a  gallant  young  officer  of  Campany  C,  from  Cald- 
well. Here  also  Lieutenant  Hamlin  was  wounded  in  the 
arm.  That  night  General  Hoke  undertook  a  flank  movement 
down  the  British  road  and  the  Xeuse  river  road,  the  Junior 
Reserves  being  a  part  of  his  command.  We  could  plainly  hear 
the  enemy  at  work  on  their  fortifications.  The  night  was 
rainy  and  so  dark  you  could  not  see  your  hand  before  you. 
After  marching  through  slush  and  rain  about  six  miles,  we 
countermached  and  returned.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  10th 
all  of  our  troops  fell  back  to  the  entrenchments  on  the  British 
road,  and  later  in  the  day  we  re-crossed  the  Xeuse,  burning  the 
bridge  hehind  us,  and  marched  through  Kinston,  our  brigade 
camping  at  Moseley  Hall.  This  retrograde  movement  was 
the  consequence  of  the  arrival  of  Sherman's  army  in  Xorth 
Carolina. 

The  operations  near  Kinston,  sometimes  called  the  battle 
of  Kinston,  but  usually  the  battle  of  South  West  Creek,  were 
upon  the  whole  a  Confederate  success,  and  when  the  dispar- 
ity in  numbers  between  the  contending  forces  is  considered, 
were  very  creditable  to  the  Confederates.  General  7>ragg  in 
general  orders  thanked  the  troops  for  their  heroism  and  valor 
and   complimented  them   upon   their   achievements. 


24  North  Carolina  Troops,   1861-65. 

The  arrival  of  Sherman  in  Fayetteville  and  the  approach 
of  the  troops  from  Wilmington  to  form  a  junction  with  Sher- 
man at  Goldsboro,  made  it  necessary  for  us  to  withdraw  to 
prevent  being  cut  off  and  in  order  to  form  a  junction  with 
General  Johnston's  Army,  which  was  moving  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Smithfield.  On  15  March  Colonel  John  H.  Neth- 
ercutt,  of  the  Sixty-sixth  North  Carolina,  was  placed  in  com- 
mand of  our  brigade  which  was  permanently  assigned  to 
Hoke's  Division. 

A    MILITARY    EXECUTION. 

Arriving  at  Smithfield  16  March,  we  remained  two  days 
and  there  witnessed  one  of  the  saddest  spectacles  of  the  war — 
a  military  execution.  The  regiment  constituted  a  part  of 
the  military  pageant  which  attended  the  shooting  to  death  of 
G.  W.  Ore,  a  private  of  Company  B,  Twenty-seventh  Georgia 
Regiment,  who  had  been  tried  and  condemned  for  mu- 
tiny by  a  court-martial.  The  poor  fellow  was  first  inarched 
around,  to  the  solemn  music  of  the  Dead  March,  in  front  of 
the  regiments  which  were  drawn  up  in  an  open  square,  facing 
inwards,  he  was  then  made  to  kneel,  and  was  tied  to  a  stake  on 
the  open  side  of  the  hollow  square.  A  detail  of  twelve  men 
drawn' up  at  ten  paces  from  him  performed  the  painful  duty 
of  carrying  out  the  sentence  of  the  court.  xVt  this  late  stage 
of  the  war,  when  the  struggle  was  perfectly  desperate  and  all 
hope  of  success  had  fled,  the  execution  seemed  to  us  to  be  little 
less  than  murder. 

On  18  March  we  marched  again,  not  to  the  West,  but  to 
the  South.  We  knew  that  Sherman  was  approaching  from 
that  direction,  and  we  surmised  that  there  was  serious  work 
before  us.  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  who  rode  for  a  short 
distance  on  that  day  at  the  head  of  the  Third  Junior  Re- 
serves, said  as  much  to  its  commander.  Sherman  was  mov- 
ing from  Fayetteville  in  the  direction  of  Goldsboro  in  two 
parallel  columns,  about  a  day's  inarch  apart.  General  John- 
ston had  determined  to  take  advantage  of  the  fact  that  Sher- 
man's left  wing  was  thus  separated  from  the  right,  and  to 
strike  a  bold  blow  on  the  exposed  flank  at  Bentonville  in  John- 
ston County. 


PEN  TON  VI  I. 


BENTONVILLE 


Confederate  Assault  March 

19 

■ACT 

Subsequent  Position 

J     . 

■Federal  Lines 

(Federal  Mapj 

KIJF 

**■  5st$& 

$Kb^ 

•%y§^ 

^ft'? 

0mm^ 

^il-:^^^ 


A^ERASBORO,         N.C. 

fought  March  16*  1865 . 


Seventy-Second  Regiment.         25 
bentonville. 

As  soon  as  General  Hardee,  19  March,  our  corps  com- 
mander, reached  Bentonville  with  his  troops,  he  moved  by 
the  left  flank,  Hoke's  (our)  division  leading,  to  the  ground 
previously  selected  by  General  Hampton.  It  was  the  east- 
ern edge  of  an  old  plantation,  extending  a  mile  and  a  half 
to  the  west,  and  lying  principally  on  the  north  side  of  the 
road  and  surrounded  east,  south  and  north  by  a  dense  thick- 
et of  black-jacks.  There  was  but  one  road  through  it. 
Hoke's  Division  formed  with  its  line  at  right  angles 
to  the  road  on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  plantation  and 
its  left  extending  some  four  hundred  yards  into  the 
thicket  on  the  south.  The  Junior  Reserves  constituted 
the  right  of  Hoke's  Division  and  supported  a  battery 
of  Starr's  Battalion  of  artillery  commanded  by  Captain  Geo. 
B.  Atkins,  of  Fayetteville.  The  brigade  of  Juniors  were  led 
by  Colonel  John  H.  ISTethercutt,  who  had  superseded  Colonel 
Armistead.  This  gallant  officer  was  Colonel  of  the  Sixty- 
sixth  North  Carolina  Regiment — a  plain,  blunt  man,  but 
every  inch  a  soldier.  The  Third  Regiment  threw  out  a  skir- 
mish line  which  was  commanded  by  Captain  Bristol  and  hur- 
riedly constructed  a  rail  fence  breastworks.  Here  under  a 
fire  of  artillery  we  suffered  many  casualties.  The  troops  be- 
longing to  the  Army  of  Tennessee  were  formed  on  the  right 
of  the  artillery.  A  wooden  farm  house  in  front  of  the  Third 
Regiment  for  some  time  afforded  cover  for  a  number  of 
sharp  shooters,  who  did  excellent  practice  on  our  line,  until 
Captain  Atkins,  with  a  few  well-directed  shells,  caused  them 
to  pour  out  like  rats  from  a  sinking  ship. 

The  enemy  soon  thereafter  charged  Hoke's  Division,  but 
after  a  sharp  contest  at  short  range  was  handsomely  repulsed. 

On  the  morning  of  the  20th  it  was  reported  that  the  Fed- 
eral right  wing  had  crossed  over  to  unite  with  the  left  wing 
which  had  been  driven  back,  and  was  coining  up  rapidly  upon 
the  left  of  Hoke's  Division.  That  officer  was  directed  to 
change  front  to  the  left.  By  this  movement,  his  line  was 
formed  parallel  to  and  fronting  the  road.  Here  light  en- 
trenchments were  soon  made  out  of  dead  trees  and  such  ma- 
terial as  could  be  moved  with  our  bavonets.      From  noon  to 


26  North  Carolina  Troops,  1861-'65. 

sunset  Sherman's  army  thus  united  made  repeated  attacks 
upon  Hoke's  Division  of  six  thousand  men  and  boys,  but 
were  uniformly  driven  back.  The  skirmish  line  of  our  bri- 
gade was  commanded  by  Major  Walter  Clark,  of  the  Seven- 
tieth Regiment  (First  Juniors),  on  the  20th  and  21st.  On 
the  21st  the  skirmishing  was  heavy,  and  the  extreme  of  the 
Federal  right,  extending  beyond  our  left  flank  made  our  po- 
sition extremely  hazardous  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  bridge 
over  the  creek  in  our  rear  was  our  only  chance  of  retreat, 
The  Seventeenth  Army  Corps  of  the  enemy  late  in  the  after- 
noon broke  through  our  line  considerably  to  the  left,  but  by 
superhuman  effort,  its  leading  division  was  driven  back  along 
the  route  by  which  it  had  advanced. 

That  night  the  Confederate  Army  recrossed  the  creek  by 
the  bridge  near  Bentonville  and  were  halted  beyond  the  town 
two  miles  north  from  the  creek.  The  Federals  made  repeat- 
ed attempts  to  force  the  passage  of  the  bridge,  but  failed  in  all. 
At  noon  the  inarch  was  resumed  and  the  troops  encamped  near 
SmithfLeld.  Sherman  proceeded  on  his  way  to  Goldsboro 
to  form  a  junction  with  Schofield,  without  further  moles- 
tation. The  Confederate  losses  in  the  battle  of  Bentonville 
were  2,313,  while  that  of  the  Federals  was  nearly  double. 
(For  many  of  the  foregoing  facts,  see  Johnston's  Narrative, 
pages  381  and  393,  from  which  liberal  extracts  have  been 
made.) 

The  Confederates  never  fought  with  more  spirit,  and  the 
Federals  with  less,  than  in  the  battle  of  Bentonville.  Gen- 
eral D.  H.  Hill  remarked  upon  this  and  said :  "It  may  be 
that  even  a  Yankee's  conscience  has  been  disturbed  by  the 
scenes  of  burning,  rapine,  pillage  and  murder  so  recently 
passed  through." 

General  Hampton  said  of  this  last  great  battle  of  the  Civil 
War,  that  in  his  opinion  it  was  one  of  the  most  extraordinary : 
"The  infantry  forces  of  General  Johnston  amounted  to  about 
11,100  men,  and  they  were  composed  of  three  separate  com- 
mands which  had  never  acted  together.  These  were  Har- 
dee's troops,  brought  from  Savannah  and  Charleston;  Stew- 
art's from  the  Army  of  Tennessee ;  and  Hoke's  Division  of 
veterans,  many  of  whom  had  served  in  the  campaigns  of  Vir- 
ginia.     Bragg,  by  reason  of  his  rank,  was  in  command  of  this 


Seventy-Second  Kegiment.  27 

latter  force,  but  it  was  really  Hoke's  Division,  and  the  latter 
directed  the  fighting.  These  troops,  concentrated  recent- 
ly for  the  first  time,  were  stationed  at  and  near  Smith- 
field,  eighteen  miles  from  the  field,  where  the  battle  was 
fought,  and  it  was  from  there  that  General  Johnston  moved 
them  to  strike  a  veteran  army  numbering  about  60,000  men. 
This  latter  army  had  marched  from  Atlanta  to  Savannah 
without  meeting  any  force  to  dispute  its  passage,  and  from  the 
latter  city  to  Bentonville  unobstructed  save  by  the  useless  and 
costly  affair  at  Averasboro,  where  Hardee  made  a  gallant 
stand,  though  at  a  heavy  loss.  iSfo  bolder  movement  was  con- 
ceived during  the  war  than  this  of  General  Johnston  when  he 
threw  his  handful  of  men  on  the  overwhelming  force  in  front 
of  him,  and  when  he  confronted  and  baffled  this  force,  holding 
a  weak  line  for  three  days  against  nearly  five  times  his  num- 
ber. For  the  last  two  days  of  this  fight  he  only  held  his  posi- 
tion to  secure  the  removal  of  his  wounded,  and  when  he  had 
accomplished  that  he  withdrew  leisurely,  moving  in  his  first 
march  only  about  four  miles." 

The  Junior  Reserves  lost  quite  a  number  of  officers  and 
boys  in  this  battle.  Their  conduct  was  creditable  to  the  last 
degree.  General  Hoke,  their  attached  and  beloved  com- 
mander, thus  writes  concerning  them:  "The  question  of 
the  courage  of  the  Junior  Reserves  was  well  established  by 
themselves  in  the  battle  below  Kinston,  and  at  the  battle  of 
Bentonville.  At  Bentonville  you  will  remember,  they  held 
a  very  important  part  of  the  battlefield  in  opposition  to  Sher- 
man's old  and  tried  soldiers,  and  repulsed  every  charge  that 
was  made  upon  them  with  very  meagre  and  rapidly  thrown 
up  breastworks.  Their  conduct  in  camp,  on  the  march,  and 
on  the  battlefield  was  everything  that  could  be  expected  of 
them,  and  I  am  free  to  say,  was  equal  to  that  of  the  old  sol- 
diers who  had  passed  through  four  years  of  war.  On  the  re- 
turn through  Raleigh  where  many  passed  by  their  homes, 
scarcely  one  of  them  left  their  ranks  to  bid  farewell  to  their 
friends,  though  they  knew  not  where  they  were  going  nor 
what   dangers   they   would   encounter." 

THE  LAST  REVIEW. 

The  regiment  remained  in  camp  near  Smithfield  until  10 


28  North  Carolina  Troops,   1861-'65. 

April.  During  this  time  our  corps  under  command  of  Gen- 
eral Hardee  was  reviewed  by  General  Johnston,  General  Har- 
dee, Governor  Vance  and  others.  There  was  not  in  the  grand 
parade  of  that  day — the  last  grand  review  of  the  Confederate 
Army — a  more  soldierly  body  of  troops  than  the  Junior  Re- 
serves. Later  in  the  day,  Governor  Vance  made  a  stirring 
speech  to  the  North  Carolina  troops,  which  by  its  eloquence 
aroused  enthusiasm  and  caused  the  fire  of  patriotism  to  burn 
more  brightly  in  our  hearts.  On  10  April  we  begun  our  last 
retreat  before  Sherman. 

the  retreat. 

On  12  April  we  reached  Raleigh.  I  recall  how  we  marched 
through  Raleigh  past  the  old  Governor's  Mansion  on  Fay- 
etteville  street,  facing  the  Capitol,  then  up  Fayette ville  street 
and  west  by  Hillsboro  street  past  St.  Mary's  young  ladies 
school  in  a  beautiful  grove  on  the  right.  How  the  servants 
stood  at  the  fence  with  supplies'  of  water  for  us  to  drink ! 
How  the  fair  girls  trooped  down  to  see  us  pass !  How  one 
tall,  beautiful  damsel  exclaimed:  "Why,  girls,  these  are  all 
young  men,''  and  how  one  of  our  saucy  Sergeants  replied: 
"Yes,  ladies,  and  we  are  all  looking  for  wives!"  It  was  in 
Raleigh  that  we  heard  the  heartrendering  rumor  of  General 
Lee's  surrender. 

Our  line  of  march  was  through  Chapel  Hill.  The  Univer- 
sity at  that  place  was  deserted  and  many  refugees  from  the 
lower  counties  were  again  preparing  to  fly.  After  leaving 
Chapel  Hill  we  camped  on  the  Regulators'  Battleground, 
thence  our  line  of  march  was  on  the  Salisbury  an.'  Hillsboro 
road,  over  which  200  years  before  the  Catawba  Indian-  passed 
in  their  visits  to  the  Tuscaroras  in  the  East.  Governor  Tryon 
and  later  Lord  Cornwallis  had  led  their  troops  over  this  his- 
toric way  in  the  vain  endeavor  to  subdue  the  men  whose  sons 
now  trod,  footsore  and  weary,  over  the  same  old  red  hills,  en- 
gaged in  a  like  struggle  for  local  self  government. 

When  we  reached  Haw  river  on  Saturday,  15  April,  we 
found  the  steam  rising  rapidly.  In  crossing  the  river,  sev- 
eral of  our  boys  were  drowned  by  leaving  the  ford  to  reach 
some  fish  traps  a  short  distance  below  and  being  caught  by 


Seventy-Second  Regiment.  29 

the  swift  current  and  swept  down  into  the  deep  water. 
On  reaching  Alamance  creek  we  had  a  novel  experience. 
On  account  of  heavy  rains  the  stream  was  much  swollen 
and  the  current  very  strong.  General  Cheatham's  command 
was  moving  in  front  of  General  Hoke's  Division  and  on  at- 
tempting to  ford  the  stream  several  men  were  swept  down  by 
the  current,  whereupon  the  others  absolutely  refused  to  move. 
This  halted  the  entire  column,  and  as  the  enemy's  cavalry 
were  closely  pressing  our  rear,  the  situation  was  becoming 
critical.  General  Cheatham  rode  to  the  front  and  learning 
the  cause  of  the  halt,  ordered  the  men  to  go  forward,  but,  em- 
phasizing their  determination  with  some  pretty  lively  swear- 
ing, they  doggedly  refused  to  move,  whereupon  General 
Cheatham  seized  the  nearest  man  and  into  the  stream  they 
went.  After  floundering  in  the  water  awhile,  he  came  out, 
after  repeating  the  process  for  a  few  times, .they  raised  a 
shout  and  proceeded  to  cross.  Three  wagons,  two  with  guns 
and  one  with  bacon,  capsized  and  were  swept  down  the  river. 
Some  lively  diving  for  the  bacon  followed,  but  I  guess  the 
guns  are  still  rusting  in  the  bottom  of  the  creek.  I  am  sure 
none  of  them  were  disturbed  on  that  occasion. 

In  the  midst  of  the  peril  of  the  crossing  of  the  river,  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel French  realizing  the  danger  to  which  the 
smaller  boys  were  exposed,  jumped  from  his  horse,  and  sta- 
tioning himself  in  mid-stream  just  below  the  line  of  march, 
rescued  several  of  the  brave  lads  from  inevitable  death. 
Standing  there,  watching  his  chance  to  save  life,  he  was  every 
inch  the  faithful  officer  and  brave  soldier,  and  no  wonder  the 
boys  loved  him.  Within  the  last  twelve  months  he,  too,  has 
crossed  over  the  river  and  is  now  resting  under  the  shade  of 
the  trees.     Farewell  my  dear  old  comrade ! 

We  reached  Red  Cross,  twenty  miles  south  of  Greens- 
boro, late  on  16  April.  Here  we  stayed  until  the  following 
Easter  Sunday  morning.  On  Saturday  afternoon,  a  bright 
boy  from  Cleveland  County,  named  Froneberger,  was  killed 
in  camp  by  lightning  within  ten  steps  of  regimental  head- 
quarters. His  death  was  instantaneous.  The  next  morn- 
ing, 17  April,  after  a  scanty  breakfast  we  made  ready  as 
usual  to  resume  the  march,  but  received  no  orders.  We 
waited  till  noon,  then  all  the  afternoon,  then  till  night,  and 


30  North  Carolina  Troops,  1861-'65. 

still  no  orders.  The  next  morning  we  heard  that  General 
Johnston  had  surrendered. 

We  camped  at  Red  Cross  for  a  few  days.  Meanwhile  it 
became  known  that  we  had  not  surrendered ;  but  that  Johnston 
and  Sherman  had  undertaken  to  make  terms  for  the  surren- 
der of  all  the  then  existing  armies  of  the  Confederacy  and  for 
the  recognition  of  our  state  governments — one  of  the  decent 
acts  of  Sherman's  life.  But  it  came  to  naught  by  reason 
of  its  disapproval  in  Washington.  The  armistice  which 
had  been  entered  into  for  this  purpose  was  terminated,  and 
the  toilsome,  weary,  hopeless  march  was  resumed,  but  we  all 
knew  that  the  war  was  over. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  a  quantity  of  silver  coin,  in  Greens- 
boro, belonging  to  the  Confederate  Government  was  seized 
by  General  Johnston  and  distributed  among  his  officers  and 
men — each  receiving  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  without 
regard  to  rank.  The  writer  has  in  his  possession  the  identi- 
cal Mexican  milled  silver  dollar  which  came  to  him  on  this 
occasion.  On  one  side  of  it  has  since  been  engraved  "Bounty 
to  John  W.  Hinsdale  for  four  years'  faithful  service  in  the 
Confederate  Army."  One  hundred  times  its  weight  in  gold 
would  not  purchase  this  old  piece  of  silver,  associated  as  it 
is  with  loving  thoughts  of  comrades  and  heart-breaking  mem- 
ories of  surrender. 

The  regiment  marched  about  eight  miles  to  Old  Center 
Meeting  House,  in  Randolph  County,  staying  here  about 
three  days  and  then  we  moved  by  way  of  Coleraine's  Mills  to 
Bush  Hill  (now  Archdale),  and  came  to  a  halt  one  mile  from 
old  Trinity  College. 

THE    SURRENDER. 

General  Johnston  on  26  April  made  his  final  surrender  of 
the  army  to  General  Sherman  and  on  2  May,  1865,  at  Bush 
Hill,  all  who  remained  of  the  one  thousand  boy-patriots  of  the 
Third  Junior  Reserves  were  paroled,  and  turned  their  faces 
sorrowfully  homeward.  The  last  roll  had  been  called,  the 
last  tattoo  beaten,  and  the  regiment  was  disbanded  forever. 

This  was  the  end  of  all  our  hopes  and  aspirations.      Might 


m 

© 

© 

© 

^3 

<A 

*-• 

© 

Uu 

© 

•n 

J-3 

o 

.© 

o 

o 

1— > 

o 

'*~ ' 

c 

5 

o 

5 

r- 

~ 

~^ 

.2 

w 

o 

»"— 

r— 

J-5 

-^ 

fcb 

c 

o 

^ 

o 

■*-' 

_^ 

£ 

c 

O 

w 

o 

9 

*w 

o 

— 

© 

o 

o 

> 

.22        ^C 


<1 
CO 

d 


•2     -=       >,     o  JT 


OQ       _r 


7_        —        w 

<—  'Si 

5    ^ 


rt 


Seventy-Second  Regiment.  31 

lad  prevailed  over  right,  and  the  conquered  banner  had  been 
furled  for  all  time. 

Judge  Clark  in  his  Regimental  Histories  reproduced  fac 
similes  of  two  paroles,  one  of  an  officer  in  the  army  of  North- 
ern Virginia,  who  surrendered  at  Appomattox  Court  House, 
the  other,  of  the  writer  of  this  sketch,  an  officer  of  the  last 
grand  army  of  the  Confederacy,  commanded  by  General 
Joseph  E.  Johnston.  This  parole  appears  on  the  opposite 
page.  It  was  in  keeping  the  inviolate  faith  of  a  similar  pa- 
role issued  to  our  great  commander,  Robert  E.  Lee,  that  Gen- 
eral Grant,  be  it  said  to  his  everlasting  credit,  stayed  the  hand 
of  President  Johnston,  who,  soon  after  the  war,  issued  a 
shameful  order  for  the  arrest  of  the  "noblest  Roman  of  them 
all."  By  this  one  act,  General  Grant  won  the  respect  and 
esteem  of  the  entire  South. 

Xorth  Carolina  has  much  to  be  proud  of.  She  was  first 
at  Bethel,  she  went  farthest  at  Gettysburg,  she  was  last  at 
Appomattox,  her  dead  and  wounded  in  battle  exceeded  in 
numbers  those  of  any  other  two  States  of  the  Confederacy  to- 
gether. But,  her  last  and  most  precious  offering  to  the  cause 
of  Liberty  were  her  boy-soldiers,  who  at  her  bidding  willingly 
left  their  homes,  and  inarched,  and  fought,  and  starved,  and 
froze,  and  bled,  and  died  that  she  might  live  and  be  free. 
God  bless  the  Junior  Reserves.  Their  memory  will  ever  be 
cherished  by  the  Old  Xorth  State  they  loved  so  well. 

The  following  patriotic  lines,  written  by  the  author  of  the 
"Conquered  Banner,"  will  appeal  to  the  heart  of  many  a 
mother  whose  young  son  marched  away  with  the  Junior  Re- 
serves : 

"Young  as  tlie  youngest,  who  donned  the  Gray, 

True  as  the  truest  who  wore  it, 
Brave  as  the  bravest  he  marched  away 
(Hot  tears  on  the  cheeks  of  his  mother  lay) 
Triumphant  waved  our  flag  one  day — 

He  fell  in  the  front  before  it. 

Firm  as  the  firmest  where  duty  led, 

He  hurried  without  a  falter; 
Bold  as  the  boldest  he  fought  and  bled. 
And  the  day  was  won — but  the  field  was  red — 
And  the  blood  of  his  fresh  yimnsr  heart  was  shed 

On  his  country's  hallowed  altar. 


32  North  Carolina  Troops,   1861-'65. 

On  the  trampled  breast  of  the  battle  plain, 

Where  the  foremost  ranks  had  wrestled, 
On  his  pale  pure  face  not  a  mark  of  pain, 
(His  mother  dreams  that  they  will  meet  again), 
The  fairest  form  amid  all  the  slain, 
Like  a  child  asleep  he  nestled. 

In  the  solemn  shade  of  the  wood  that  swept 

The  fieid  where  his  comrades  found  him,  . 

They  buried  him  there — and  the  big  tears  crept 

Into  strong  men's  eyes  that  had  seldom  wept, 

(His  mother — God  pity  her — smiled  and  slept, 

Dreaming  her  arms  were  around  him). 

A  grave  in  the  woods  with  the  grass  o'ergrown, 

A  grave  in  the  heart  of  his  mother 
His  clay  in  the  one  lies  lifeless  aad  lone: 
There  is  not  a  name,  there  is  not  a  stone, 
And  only  the  voice  of  the  winds  maketh  moan 
O'er  the  grave  where  never  a  flower  is  strewn, 
But  his  memory  lives  in  the  other." 


John  W.  Hinsdale. 


Raleigh,  X.  O, 

26  April,  1901. 


ADDEXDUM. 

The  writer  appends  hereto  two  letters  received  by  him 
approving  the  accuracy  of  the  foregoing  sketch — one  from 
the  distinguished  jurist,  who  was  his  comrade  in  arms  in  the 
Junior  Reserve  brigade,  and  to  whom  the  old  soldiers  owe  a 
debt  of  gratitude  for  his  monumental  service  in  editing  the 
Regimental  Histories,  the  other  by  one  of  Lee's  best  fighters 
and  most  trusted  lieutenants,  and  the  beloved  commander  of 
the  boy-soldiers,  whose  valor  is  only  equaled  by  his  modesty. 


STATE  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA, 

SUPREME  COURT. 

Raleigh,  N.  C,  October  18,  1901. 

Coloxel  Johx  W.  Hinsdale, 
My  Dear  Colonel, 

Let  me  congratulate  you  upon  your  sketch  which  is  de- 
cidedly one  of  the  most  interesting  and  valuable  in  the  whole 
four  volumes,  and  your  conclusion  is  the  most  eloquent  and 
touching  thing  I  have  read  in  many  days.  The  Juniors  will 
take  off  their  hats  to  you. 

Your  friend  and  comrade, 

WALTER  CLARK. 


SEABOARD   AIR   LINE— GEORGIA,    CAROLINA   & 
NORTHERN  RAILWAY  CO. 

R.  F.  Hoke,  President. 

Raleigh,  N.  C,  January  4,  1901. 

Coloxel  John  W.  Hixsdale, 

My  Dear  Colonel, 

I  am  pleased  to  read  your  sketch  of  the  Third  North  Caro- 
lina Junior  Reserve  Regiment,  that  you  kindly  sent  me, 
which  is  very  accurate  as  to  their  service  while  they  were  in 
my  command.  Not  knowing  whether  you  intended  me  to 
keep  it  or  not,  I  return  it  with  my  thanks,  and  wishing  you  a 
most  happy  and  prosperous  New  Year,  I  am, 

Very  truly  vour  friend, 

R.  F.  HOKE. 


......  .  ..,,■■ 

.■;■■    ■.'>;...;;.;::-.■'   > -.;:";    :v-  ' :-"  .,- -   ■  .-:—■:•■'•,.;  \,\  ,■■..  r-,  :>■.-:-■,-•■«       .-..-.^- :>■■■••■•.  $.•  .";,  ■'":•  V  :;■:■  "..-'-'^■-  •-:    ,,*,■■'   ■  ■ 
■i;  .v.    :':y  ■-•':■:  ;■■;,:.<;—     -■   •■  -.-'•■■  >- ,  "'  ':«.-::- w  ,:'V  ■:,"'.'.  --v;  ;;;'■  - ,  v-  ,  -  '^  " :  -,:  ,:  >  "7%: .  '•-■'  ":  -V-'  •/•.  ':.v*rr'%i  fi 

,v'.. -■•'•:'  •:■'*•■•;".  '^-:l  "  :■;•■',-■., ',"r^^  .:';;'  :'  •,-■•;'  '.-/,    ■   ,;■>■/•  .-.-v.:.  ■■•Vr.  ■'•-:■  V.-;.:.-';.  i  ;--;.,  OV"- v,/,  '■;>'?>  .-;,•,:.»;<  ■>'■  5*.. 


'  .   -■  :  '  ■■■■. 


■'.. 


' ^*/> :«:  ^ ■;. :■;, '- i:?/^^y -r,V.-rV.-i-v ;-T^xv.r  ■■■:.■  ^i\$, x:-pn-t 
cs-'r^-i^-  ::v'-,  ■'•.•v--.f"-/-K .••:•■■;•■:-••'  vj\V/:,^>v^.^:;v^.  .^. ^v,^.  ,v-^'v; .•.;-^ 


^>;; 

, 


' 


^H^s* 


.;  -  i  \> 


..-•:■ 


JA&r  w  \:%\^  ''■<:  i;.}  "A:;A  ,p 


